Tiger out of the woods

Tiger Woods’s announcement that he will return to the PGA Tour next week after an eight-month injury absence totally overshadowed Thursday’s first round at the Northern Trust Open.

Television coverage of the event at Riviera Country Club came to a virtual halt as commentators avidly discussed the news and began to speculate on the form Woods is likely to produce on his comeback.

The American world number one, sidelined since his astonishing playoff victory at last year’s US Open, has been recovering from reconstructive knee surgery but is now eager to rejoin the competitive fray.

Although even Woods has to be a little uncertain how his left knee will stand up to the rigours of tournament golf after a long layoff, all the signs point toward a successful comeback.

The 14-times major winner is renowned for his meticulous approach to the game and has repeatedly said he would not return until he felt capable of winning.

For the first time in a decade, he is virtually pain-free in his knee and is able to make the most of the swing changes he has effected while working with his coach Hank Haney.   

“Long term this is the greatest thing that could have happened is to go in there and reconstruct it,” Woods said of his knee surgery, the third in the last five years.

“We’ve been trying to play with a softer left leg, but I couldn’t. There was nothing there. Right now it feels great to have that stability in the leg.

Woods has not played competitive golf since defying stabbing knee pain and a double stress fracture of his left tibia to clinch his 14th major title at the US Open in June. He will return to the Tour in Marana, Arizona at next week’s WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship where he is a three-time winner and the defending champion.

Beyond that, he is likely to play at next month’s WGC-CA Championship in Miami and the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando to complete his preparation for the Masters, the opening major of the year. “I’m now ready to play again,” the 33-year-old said ominously in a statement posted on his official website.

The driving force behind his career has been his desire to overhaul the record 18 major titles piled up by his childhood idol Jack Nicklaus. Woods now trails by four with only Nicklaus ahead of him and, with a stronger knee and a more efficient swing, few would bet against him eventually outstripping the Golden Bear.

Three-time major winner Ernie Els had similar surgery for a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament midway through 2005 and he expects Woods to flourish on his comeback.

“He’s amazed us and he will probably do the same,” South African Els told Reuters. “He’s taken longer with his recovery than most guys and I think he’s going to be fine. Plus he had already started making those swing changes with Hank Haney. He used to really snap into the left side but now he is much softer. He’s definitely not going to have that big a problem.”

Woods has been sorely missed from golf’s biggest events over the last eight months, his absence sharply reflected on the PGA Tour by plummeting television ratings. Those ratings will soar next week, especially if Woods returns to immediate winning.